go to an interview if the the job didn’t feel quite right??

2 months into my redundancy, and currently have enough money stashed to see me though the next 4-5 months, plus another 2 months from wedding photos jobs I have booked for June. Have an interview on Friday for a job, which when I applied appealed, but now I really have this knotty negative feeling about it and am unsure whether to go to the interview.

Pros: its a job, paying money, using my skills and experience

Cons: its mainly office based (not so bad)
its a 120 mile commute each day (london to cambridge) – £3k a year on travel by my rough maths + wear and tear on car for 30k miles or about same dosh on train but bitty journey of car/bus then train then bus/bike
its a 12 month temp contract
it actually looks a bit dull and think I would dislike it
I would dislike the amount of time I get to see my kid/ do photo gigs vs commuting time
money isnt that great

What would you do?

(I know what I think I am going to do, but am under alot of pressure from the Mrs and her mother to ‘get a job’ – plus company have just emailed me to say ‘oh by the way, we’d like you to prepare a presentation on this subject…’ which is a different tack from when I asked them last week if there would be a presentation element to the interview)

120 miles a day commute. **** that for a game of soldiers.! 😯

120 miles a day commute. **** that for a game of soldiers x2!!!

Hey doc, yes you do know the answer. But from where I am sitting you have a good strategy together, i.e. some work on the horizon and money stashed to cover you while you look for something that does feel right in all senses. My younger self would have said take a job, my older one says trust your instincts.

My ‘hedging bets self’ would say nothing to be lost from going to the interview – it’s only a choice if you are offered the job, and if you think it’s not for you then you can turn it down.

HTHs 🙂

I think you need to approach this both tactically and strategically.

Go to the interview – it’s good practice at interviews and shows willing with those who interest themselves in your employment status.

Ask LOTS of questions at the interview about how much you can work at home.

And, it could just be the HR bods who are handling the interview admin who can’t get their facts right, not the folk you will be working with.

I am in a very similar situation. Went for Psychometric testing for a position last week and While they were marking the test we were doing a written exercise on which I waffled my way through, thinking “I wont be coming back here” as I struggled a bit (subject was in my field but something I was not up on or hadnt looked at in detail). To my surprise I got invited back for interview this week as a result of the Psych tests. (before anyone had looked at the written exercise)

Me and 3 others in the running, 1 an ex colleague (who I know has more experience than me) and another an internal candidate. We asked on Friday if there would be a presentation and they said no only to be called yesterday saying there is a presentation and it needs to be sent to them by tomorrow at noon. (which has annoyed me a lot!).

I like you have a similar negative feeling about it and am unsure whether to go to the interview.

I am going to try and prepare the presentation this afternoon & tonight and if it looks decent enough I will probably attend the interview just for the experience.

Its a tough choice, but the more presentations & interviews you do the better you get at them which may help you in getting the job you really want in the future?

I would advise going (although still not sure myself), then if you get offered it, you will need to weigh up your options then?

EDIT: 56 miles each way too!

Even if nothing comes out of it you can still view it as interview experience.

120 miles a day commuting does not sound like fun though. I am currently doing 20 miles each way and that is getting close to my upper limit.

yes, it’s interview practice. even if you get it, you don’t have to tell the mrs.
i dd 70 miles each way commute for about 3 months – nope, it’s just plain knackering.

12 month contract – you can put up with anything short term, can’t you?

Go to the interview anyway – experience, and if you get the offer it’s an ego boost 🙂

Sounds like two of you are after the same job !

Only for interview practice and even then probably not if it involved travelling 120 miles to do it.

go to the interview + 10

Also London to Cambridge by train is not too bad (1 hr or so?), plenty of people do Cambs to London on a daily basis, and you’ll be going against the flow. 2 factors to add to your commute are how close you are to Kings X / Liverpool St for the trains? and how close the new job would be to the station at the other end.

Time with kids is an massive factor, but so is being able to provide for them in the long run.

Def do the interview, if you don’t get it its not a biggie, and if you do get it its nicer decision to have to make. You’ll also get a good feel for the company/job whilst doing the interview.

120 miles a day commute. **** that for a game of soldiers x3!!!!!!!!!!

Train is a possibility but the time it’ll take you to do those last 10 miles into London will mean you spend half the day in the car! I used to live in Ilford and work in Hendon, that was just 12 miles away. It’d take me just over two hours to drive in the morning! I bought a motorbike thinking it would be quicker but the cars were packed so close together I just couldn’t get between them. I think I cut about 20 minutes off my trip though.
I eventually abandoned the car in favour of the Tube and just suffered the cost.

It’ll be 120 miles in total (there and back), Cambridge isn’t that far from London!

nothing would make me do a commute like that. I value my time and my sanity.

By the time you add the commuting costs up and subtract that from your wages and add the 3? Hrs a day travelling on to your working week work out what your hourly rate will be.

I wouldn’t go to an interview you don’t want the job from

Go to the interview and be possitive.

It is better to get the job and not like it / give it up than to do nothing. Your CV will look better and you never know where it might lead you.

120 miles a day is an absolute no but go for the interview experiance.

I did 2 weeks ago for something I would have liked but I figured I didnt have the experiance. 2nd interview last week and this week I’m waiting for vetting and contracts 🙂
slightly more money but the work is going to be awesome!
the 6 mile commute is also better that the 1 mile I do now (1 mile isn’t far enough).
yay me!

It seems a bit short sighted not to even go for the interview and ask relevant questions!

If the job still doesn’t feel right, you can still turn it down (or ask for silly money or extra holidays or working from home etc)

Late to join in, but my two penn’orth

go to an interview if the the job didn’t feel quite right??

2 months into my redundancy

In a word, no. I would hold out for one which felt right. I did. For a year. I am now in possibly the best, and most challenging, job I have ever had, in an amazing company, with amazing colleagues.

Hold out for the right thing, it’s worth it.

What a bunch of workshy slackers 😆 . Having just a 120 mile commute is a luxury.

Go for the interview. If you get it you can always turn it down or if you’re not bothered try and negotiate mileage/higher rate etc.

My ‘hedging bets self’ would say nothing to be lost from going to the interview – it’s only a choice if you are offered the job, and if you think it’s not for you then you can turn it down.

By train its ok, read, watch i player etc. Thinking time has its own value.

I have seen a few people ignore job opportunities thinking something better will turn up and guess what – in a recession better things don’t always turn up, meanwhile you are a wasting asset so quit the navel gazing and at least use the interview to hone your technique and as bloke above says its only a tricky choice when you are offered it.

Having just a 120 mile commute is a luxury.

IMO accepting a 120 mile commute suggests you lack any self-worth

12m contract, in which time you gain experience, and look for another job. I always found it easier to get a job “from a job” rather than from being unemployed. You might stand more chance of geting the better job you want, and seem a more credible candidate, willing to work, if you take it.

If it’s local authority work don’t bother, the internal candidate will get the job the rest of you are there to give the appearance of a proper hiring policy.

You may as well go to the interview, not as if you have anything else to do. Never know what is possible without chatting to the people involved in person.

Yes the commute takes time, but I take it you’ll still be where you want to be. My GF’s commute would be less if we lived in Cardiff, but we’d far rather live in the Beacons. Equally, the guy I work with drives up from Gower as that is where he wants to go home to.

cheers folks – a good mixture of opinions and food for thought. At the end of the day, I agree that doing the interview for experience is a good thing, however this could backfire in terms of it being quite apparent I am not interested in the job (think trainspotting, only slightly more responsible!) The job at the end of the day isn’t what I want to do,its a stopgap to earn money which combined with the commuting would seriously impinge on what I want – would be left with no time to develop my photog business further – it also doesn’t take me any closer to what I would like to be doing if I was using my job experience/PHD etc – I would be better spending the 1/2 day that the interview would take applying for thr 5 other posts that I have found that fill my belly with fire.

I commute 100 miles a day which averages about 3 hours out of my life a day. (not through choice!)

Go for the interview experience, if you get offered it you can always decline.

Commuting that kind of distance leaves you tired by the end of the week and seriously stops you from doing anything Monday – Friday. If I could get a job nearer to home I would move in a flash.

Rockhopper – Member
It’ll be 120 miles in total (there and back), Cambridge isn’t that far from London!

I think people always forget that commuting from London to somewhere for work tends to be worse than the the other way around as even if you live in zone 2 London the train station you need to get to to travel out of London can be 30 – 45 min to get to before you even start you journey. Most people doing it the other way around live closish to the station if commuting daily.

job advice….would you…

Yes I would! Who are we talking about?

if you’ve got a wife and kid(s) i know what i’d be doing. your life’s not your own. sorry. you are aware that there’s going to be a load more people in the job market soon, aren’t you? take the first job that comes along.
it’s all well and good saying ‘it’s not really what i want to do’ and ‘it’s a long commute’, but when there’s dependants involved you have to suck it up and do what’s necessary sometimes.
look to move on, by all means, but stash that redundancy money in case things really go t1ts up. if you’re on the train you can use that time to apply for/prepare for other jobs and develop your business.
just my 2p.

Yes the commute takes time, but I take it you’ll still be where you want to be

In a car, in a traffic jam on the M11? 🙂

Having been made redundant a few times and gaps between contracts, like others say it is a hell of a lot easier to find a better / closer / more suitable job if you are currently employed.

Even if you have some cash in the bank it goes so fast if nothing comes in and it can take months to actually start working. You will get more stressed , more likely to take anything as time goes on. Or you could wait to get your dream job. More importantly there is no reason why you couldn’t get the same dream job while commuting.

I have done a lot of commuting and yes you lose most of your free time during the week. But I actually found I didn’t mind the train, with a busy work and family life a hour each way on the train was good for reading, doing work stuff, planning what next etc. But yes the all in travelling was taking 3 hours a day out of my life, but you can make use some of that time on a train, not much you can do in a car.

Driving is a lot different, especially in or near London.
Expensive, kills your car, you will be wound up arriving a work or home, far more tiring.